Hawley’s 5th Sprint win in a row worth $2,500; Myers takes #3 in Mercer Modifieds

By Mike Leone

September 8, 2001

Mercer (PA)...Mercer Raceway Park completed the rescheduled 3rd annual Sprint Slug-Out along with a complete show for the remainder of the divisions Saturday night. Winning feature events were Jimmy Hawley-Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars, Les Myers-Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds, Andy Priest-New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds, and Andy Buckley-Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars. Bill Kiley won the sprint wheelie contest, while Jed Peterson was the victor of the "Gladiator Series" Demolition Derby. A season-high 155 cars were on hand and were joined by over 40 demo derby cars. Anderson Coach & Travel awarded a lucky fan an Opryland Hotel Country Christmas Tour giveaway.

Jimmy Hawley made it five wins in a row by winning the 30-lap $2,500 to-win 3rd annual Sprint Slug-Out. "We set up for the end of the race," said the West Middlesex, Pa. driver. "We went with a harder Hoosier tire compound than Gary (Kriess) did. We would have liked to see it go green a lot longer to get heat in the tires, but it worked out."

Scott Bonnell took the early lead from the pole position as point champion, Tom Quarterson, took over third from Gary Kriess, Jr. on the opening lap. Quarterson moved in on Jack Sodeman, Jr. and made the pass for second on lap three. Quarterson then took charge from Bonnell on lap five. Kriess and Hawley entered the picture on laps six and seven taking third and fourth respectively from Sodeman.

Lapped traffic played a factor on lap 12 making it a five-car race for the lead. Quarterson slowed on lap 13 and pulled out of the event giving the lead back to Bonnell and moved Kriess and Hawley up to second and third. Kriess nipped Bonnell at the start-finish line to lead lap 14 right before the first caution was displayed for Dan Shetler’s spin. Ralph Engel, Jr. got upside down one lap later, but was okay. Hawley picked off second from Bonnell on lap 17 before Ed Lynch, Jr. brought out the caution.

When racing resumed, Hawley would work on Kriess for the next four laps before making the winning move in turn one on the 21st circuit. Hawley held off Kriess for his seventh Mercer win of the season and twenty-eighth of his career. "You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Gary Kriess," said the driver of the Dr. John and Debi Crawford-owned, Mihalcak Motorsports #cIII. "He won last night (Raceway 7) and we sure didn’t want him to beat us again tonight. He’s a great driver and has good stuff. He just keeps getting harder and harder to beat. It was a good show. There were a lot of cars."

Arnie Kent, who started ninth, passed Bonnell for third on lap 25. Bonnell dropped to fourth over Troy Preston. Lynch came back through the pack to get sixth over Gary Edwards, Fremont, Ohio’s Jody Keegan, and newcomers Rod George and Dan Shetler. Winning the heats over the season-high 37 car field were Kent, Preston, Hawley, and Quarterson. Keegan won the B main. Bill Kiley of Cabot, Pa. captured the $500 winner-take-all wheelie contest.

Les Myers led all 25 laps to win his third Bolland Machine Big-Block Modified feature event. "It’s nice to be back here again," said the Reno, Pa. driver following his $1,300 win. "The car was working real good and the track was in excellent shape. We had a good starting spot so we had some breaks going our way."

Myers raced into the lead at the start over Josh Skarzenski, while Lonny Riggs came from sixth to third on the opening lap. Point champion, Lou Blaney, had worked his way from the eleventh starting spot into fourth before getting tangled up on a lap 14 restart and was done for the night. This moved Tim Doran, who started eighth, into the fourth position for the restart. Doran then drove around Riggs off turn four to take third. Two laps later, Doran used a similar move to race by Skarzenski for runner-up.

Doran closed on Myers, but wouldn’t have enough for the veteran racer. Myers’ 14th career Mercer big-block win came in the Details by Doug/McCarty Vinyl Graphics-sponsored #x3. Doran was defeated for just the third time in nine events with two of the times in second place. Jeff Schaffer was able to get by Skarzenski for third on lap 22. Skarzenski dropped to fourth over Riggs. Completing the top 10 were Scott Gurdak, Rob Curtis, Don McKnight, Carl Murdick, and Nick Ritchey. Taking heat wins over the 33-car field were Skarzenski, Riggs, and Myers. Kevin Hoffman won the B main in his first start of the year.

Andy Priest tied Hawley as the track’s top winner by capturing his seventh 20-lap New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modified win of the season. The New Castle, Pa. driver passed John Buchanan and Rick Ryder on the opening lap and led all of the way for the $400 win. Priest’s division-leading 26th career sportsman win came aboard the Ted Hull-owned, MPR Lumber/Griffin-Bossard-sponsored #41. Making his first start of the season, Gerry Bruce raced from seventh to pass Buchanan for runner-up on lap 19. Andy Paden got by Buchanan on the final lap to finish third. Buchanan dropped to fourth over twenty-second starter, Gary Smoker. Winning the heat events were Buchanan and Bruce over the 24-car field.

After six heat events and three B mains to narrow the 62 cars down to the 24 starters for the 20-lap Butterfield’s Pub Stock Car feature, point champion Andy Buckley stood in victory lane for his fifth win. Jim Brunson led the opening lap before Shaun Hooks led lap two. Hooks’ lead would only last a lap as Ron Iorio came from seventh into the lead. Buckley, who started fifth, got around Hooks for second on lap four. Bobby Whitling followed suit taking third from Hooks on the sixth lap. Buckley would nose ahead of Iorio to lead lap seven. Buckley had Iorio and Whitling all over him the final 13 laps. The three would race three-wide nearly at times, but in the end it was Buckley who recorded the $400 win- his seventh of his career in the Hapeman Electronics/Arctic Cat-sponsored #965. Iorio nipped Whitling for second. Gary Robinson was also able to get by Hooks to finish fourth. Hooks dropped to fifth for his eighth straight top five. Buckley, Bill Hanna, Hooks, Danny Exley, Iorio, and Robinson won the heats over the season-high 62 cars. Jim Davis, Russ Kapalin, and Gary Miller, Jr. won the three B main events.

Luxaire Heating & Cooling Sprint Cars (30 laps): 1. JIMMY HAWLEY ($2,500) 2. Gary Kriess, Jr. 3. Arnie Kent 4. Scott Bonnell 5. Troy Preston 6. Ed Lynch, Jr. 7. Gary Edwards 8. Jody Keegan 9. Rod George 10. Dan Shetler 11. Mike Lutz 12. Mike Kekich 13. Rob Eyler 14. Andy McKisson 15. Jason Jacoby 16. Mike Kaminski 17. Brent Matus 18. Andy Priest 19. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 20. Kenny Hardy 21. Ralph Engel, Jr. 22. Tom Quarterson 23. Gary McCollum 24. Mark Murphy DNQ-Scott Priester, Chad Hill, Bill Kiley, Gale Ruth, Jeff Kasbee, Gary Stallard, Bob Whitacre, Charlie Holben, Brian Woodhall, Dave Wagner, Mike Shearer, Jim Kennedy, Wayne McPeek.

Bolland Machine Big-Block Modifieds (25 laps): 1. LES MYERS ($1,300) 2. Tim Doran 3. Jeff Schaffer 4. Josh Skarzenski 5. Lonny Riggs 6. Scott Gurdak 7. Rob Curtis 8. Don McKnight 9. Carl Murdick 10. Nick Ritchey 11. Rick Hall 12. Greg Unrue 13. Rodney Beltz 14. Steve Barr 15. Randy Chronister 16. Kevin Hoffman 17. John Boyer, Jr. 18. Dana Gearhart 19. Lee Miller 20. Lou Blaney 21. Ted Ryan 22. Dave Schrader 23. Phil Evans, Jr. 24. Steve Young DNQ-Rick Kress, Mike Lutz, Dean Pearson, Troy Willoughby, Adam Siegel, Ron Took, Bob Dorman, J.R. McGinley.

New Castle School of Trades Sportsman Modifieds (20 laps): 1. ANDY PRIEST ($400) 2. Gerry Bruce 3. Andy Paden 4. John Buchanan 5. Gary Smoker 6. Chanda Reitz 7. Fred Sasse 8. John Confer 9. Bill Baptiste 10. J.D. Whitman 11. Scott Kay 12. Jerry Schaffer 13. John Jones 14. Jay Priest 15. Dave Cogswell 16. Morgan Sasse 17. Gary Wansor 18. Rick Ryder 19. Ron Eperthener, Jr. 20. Barry Bulfone 21. Allen Ferry 22. Doug Updyke 23. Mark Sevin-DNS 24. Les Myers-DNS.

Butterfield’s Pub Stock Cars (20 laps): 1. ANDY BUCKLEY ($400) 2. Ron Iorio 3. Bobby Whitling 4. Gary Robinson 5. Shaun Hooks 6. Gary Norman 7. Bill Hanna 8. Terry Kroner 9. Greg Beach 10. Jim Brunson 11. Lynn Hostetler 12. Brian Miller 13. Willie Aley 14. Rick Anthony 15. Dan Fedorchak 16. Russ Kapalin 17. Mike Aley 18. Gary Miller, Jr. 19. Rusty Moore 20. Dave Atkinson 21. Terry Wheeler 22. Jim Davis 23. Danny Exley 24. Rusty Wheeler DNQ-Bob Sloss, Rick Norco, Marty Iorio, Keith Nagy, Jason Reagle, Phil Kaufman, J.R. Brown, Jeff Kravec, Chris Seamen, Corey Ruffo, Ed Hays, Rod Laskey, Butch Skiles, Ray Bailey, Jr., Mark Covert, Robert Wagner, Tim Deutsch, Mike Miller, Gerald Kielar, Bob Hays, William George, Sr., Justin Krieder, Doug Iorio, Jr., Erick Cwynar, Rich Chess, Lonnie O’Brien, J.R. Ziegler, Dave Ferringer, Paul Hake, Tony Bruno, Jim Miller, Don Greenlee, Andy Thompson, Tim Zuschlag, Sammy Wheat, Tim Mailliard, Jim Green, Duane Grinnell.